Memories
by Mika Nakane
Summary: Kirihara Akaya reminisces about life with the former regulars, and forgets about something important.


**A/N Just a short fanfic I made about after the 3****rd**** years graduate. Starts out sad, but gets happier near the end. I do not own Prince of Tennis.**

Memories

"See you tomorrow, Kirihara-buchou!" one of the juniors called. Kirihara quickly waved and yelled a "Bye!" as he made his way home.

Kirihara Akaya was in a great mood today. The new regulars were doing great, and each one was unique and creative with their styles. _Maybe someday they'll even beat me_, he mused. As if that would ever happen.

The thought of a match that was won made him remember the previous 2 years he had spent as a Rikkaidai tennis club member. Last year his team had made it to the National finals, but had lost to Seigaku in the end. Their consecutive record may have been broken, but Kirihara was certain that his 2nd year was the best year of his life. However, during the entire time, he had never quite been able to achieve his goal.

When Kirihara first entered Rikkaidai, he had wanted to become "Number 1!". Sure, winning against the other regulars was simple, but he had never been able to beat the 3 demons of Rikkaidai. He had attempted to win countless times, and occasionally, winning against the 3 demons was his only motivation in life. He practiced for many hours even after tennis practice ended, and was pleased when Sanada had finally acknowledged him. But, even after he had won against the other regulars, beating those three was just impossible. Sure, he also couldn't beat Niou-senpai, but that was simply because he used confusing moves, and he could make his imitations, or "illusions", completely realistic.

The memories of the previous regulars brought mixed feelings. One was remorse, as he had never truly won against his 3 rivals. He also felt happy, remembering his senpai-tachi who had helped him through many problems, and treasured him as their kouhai. The feelings of the former 3rd years were so bittersweet, his senpai who he had respected so much. They had graduated, and entrusted the club to him.

At first he was horrified at the thought of them leaving. It had never occurred to him that someday the regulars would all leave, and hand him the responsibility of the entire club. He sometimes lay in his bed awake at night, thinking about how it would feel to be the captain. Would he order everyone to run laps, like Sanada did when Yukimura-buchou was in the hospital? However appealing it sounded, Kirihara couldn't bring himself to punish another person when he wasn't in his devil mode. Sometimes he would wonder if one of the new regulars would surpass him easily. But, he believed in his tennis. So, he decided that the one who would beat him in a game of tennis would become the next captain.

He recalled his first day at Rikkaidai, challenging Sanada to a match and losing terribly. It had been Marui who had cheered him up.

Marui. He had been Kirihara's favourite senpai, and Marui was always there, cheering him up when he was down. Sometimes he would even offer Kirihara a few of his sweets, and they would sit on the bench, chatting happily about tennis, and sympathizing with another about Sanada's punishments. Then Marui would tell him about his latest victory with Jackal, and would boast about his genius-like moves.

Jackal. Kirihara may not have known him as much as Marui, but Jackal was considered Kirihara's babysitter at the time. Back in the future, Kirihara gave an embarrassed chuckle, thinking about how the former "baby" of the team was now the strong leader, guiding their team to the finals. Jackal had always been there, to pay for the candy and games, but also to give him much-needed advice. _The most useful thing he told me_, Kirihara thought, _was never to trust Niou-senpai. Too bad I never listened to him…_

Niou. The team's trickster, and the one Kirihara was most annoyed with from telling him lies. But, Kirihara had definitely respected him, as he won every time when they had a match. Sometimes, Kirihara would even help him with a trick, and would join him in annoyance when Yagyuu scolded them.

Yagyuu. He was the Rikkai's gentleman, and was originally a golf player. Niou had never really bothered to tell him why or how Yagyuu transferred to tennis, but it usually never mattered since Yagyuu would beat them all anyway, in both tennis _and _golf. Kirihara remembered Yagyuu as Niou's perfect doubles partner. When they switched that time in the Kantou finals, Kirihara had no idea despite being with Niou so often. Kirihara didn't particularly like Yagyuu, as he was constantly telling Kirihara to stop falling for Niou's pranks, and scolding him for his mischief. Around this point, Yanagi would usually intervene and say that Yagyuu's words "were useless as Akaya would never obey them anyway".

Yanagi. He had played doubles with him once, but still found the Master's data confounding. Yanagi preferred a calm, calculated game, while Kirihara's ideal match was a wild rally where both players where evenly matched. He especially disliked that one time when Yanagi decided to make the other regulars try some of his friend's, Inui Sadaharu's, juice. It was revolting, and Kirihara never quite understood why he made them drink it when they always vomited it out afterwards. Sanada always ordered him laps when he questioned his senpai's words, and Kirihara was usually grumpy and held a grudge against him for the next few days.

Sanada. Their team's fukubuchou. Kirihara's original inspiration. Whenever he challenged the 3 demons to a match, it was always Sanada who played against him. He easily won, but Kirihara continued to send him challenge letters every week. He was constantly "Tarundoru!"-ed, but his flame of passion never went out as long as Sanada was there, providing him with harsh motivation even after Yukimura was hospitalized.

Yukimura. Rikkaidai's powerful tennis captain, also known as the "Demi-God". He had always been fragile, in Kirihara's opinion, but even when injured, he could beat Kirihara in a matter of minutes. All the regulars respected him, although Kirihara probably did the most.

All of his senpai were so very dear to him, so when he realized that they would leave, he had been miserable. Of course, Marui cheered him up by telling him that they would still communicate, and they all traded email addresses, but it just hadn't been the same. Even when you have someone's full contact information, eventually you two just drift apart; emails become infrequent, phone calls become occasional… It just isn't the same as when you see each other face-to-face everyday. He had texted all of his senpai every 5 minutes the day after the graduation, but the next month, he had only been sending one text a week. Kirihara had come to realize that he had to let go of the former regulars, that he had to be strong for the ones to come after him. If the team crumbled now, it would prove fatal to all the future prodigies that would lead Rikkaidai to yet another victory.

But Kirihara just couldn't help himself from sobbing quietly as he walked home, reminiscing the days of the former regulars. He had just wanted to confront his feelings; he missed them dearly. Part of him wanted to eat sweets with Marui, be babysitted by Jackal, be tricked by Niou, be scolded by Yagyuu, be confounded by Yanagi, be Tarundoru'ed by Sanada, and be cared for by Yukimura again. Sure, he loved being captain, but it just didn't felt right without them.

Kirihara pulled out his key and unlocked the front door. A loud "POP!" was heard, and the lights turned on.

"Happy birthday Akaya!", they said, except Niou had replaced "Akaya" with "Brat".

They were all there. Marui, looking greedily at the giant birthday cake, Niou, activating his trap and successfully drenching Kirihara with ice-cold water, Jackal, Yagyuu, and Yukimura, holding brightly coloured streamers, and Sanada, with his arms crossed in a corner.

Kirihara gasped. There was no way that he could've forgotten his birthday, was there? He checked the calendar on the fridge. September 25th. Definitely his birthday.

"There was a 80% chance that you had forgotten your own birthday, so we decided o remind you." Yanagi informed. Marui looked a little closer and gasped. "Akaya! You were crying?"

Kirihara quickly brushed away his tears, and looked back up at Marui. "It was the water that Niou-senpai poured on me…" he lied awkwardly. He could hear a "Tarundoru!" addressed to Niou, but decided to ignore it and continue on with the party. Marui cut the cake, giving both Akaya and himself extra-large pieces, and handed them out. Niou voiced his complaint, but was satisfied as Yagyuu shared his piece with him.

After the food was gone, Jackal decided to start handing Kirihara the presents. "Open mine first!" Marui said. Akaya enthusiastically unwrapped the paper, and was delighted to find a slice of strawberry cake, and a pack of gum. Kirihara gave him a little hug, and moved onto the next present.

Kirihara was clearly not happy as Niou's present exploded and covered his face with streamers and vanilla icing. "Happy birthday, brat." Niou said with a wide grin. Akaya couldn't help but smile a bit as well after Jackal helped clean the mess off his face.

Yagyuu's present was typical; a useful gift that didn't make him smile, but more like let out a breath in relief. Yagyuu had given him all of the books that he would need in the year. "The 3rd year is quite simple," Yagyuu explained, "So I thought that you could make use of it since I had already memorized all I needed to know.". Kirihara gave him an awkward hug, and Jackal handed him the next one.

"This one is from me." he said, and gave him a brightly coloured gift box. Kirihara's eyes widened as he opened it. "A TEDDY BEAR!" he squealed in delight, before quickly hiding his glee in embarrassment. "I thought you might like it. It's a good-luck charm from Brazil, so I thought you might want the good fortune for the tennis club." he replied. He hugged Jackal, and chose the next one to open himself.

He opened a strange beaker cautiously, and discovered a strangely coloured juice inside.

"It's my own creation, really, and it's the perfect energy booster. All you need is a sip, and your energy comes right back with no side effects afterwards." Yanagi said. Kirihara sweatdropped, but still thanked his senpai as he chose between the last two.

Kirihara gasped in delight when he found a new Rikkaidai regular's jacket with his name embroidered on the arm, and the words "Captain" written in green on the back.

"I visited Rikkaidai about a week ago to submit some extra forms, and I decided to drop by the tennis club. I found out you were still using your old regular's uniform, so I decided to get you one of the special ones that are only for captains." Yukimura explained, and winked at his kouhai. Suddenly, Kirihara felt proud that he was the captain of the tennis club, and hugged the former captain tightly.

Kirihara picked up the last gift from the pile, figuring out that it was Sanada's. It was spherical, and was wrapped in a dark green wrapping paper. Kirihara tugged the ends lose, and a single red tennis ball came bouncing out.

"Red?" Kirihara asked, confused. "Tarundoru!" Sanada exclaimed, and pulled his hat down as the others chuckled.

"Anyway, I hope you had a great day today, Akaya! It's your birthday afterall." Marui smiled at his kouhai, while they all stood up and prepared to leave. They had been at Kirihara's house for 4 hours now, and had decided that it was time to depart.

And Kirihara ran towards them and captured them all in a tight hug. They looked surprised, but returned the embrace as they could see the desperation in Kirihara's eyes. "I missed you." he whispered, and sobbed quietly.

**A/N I know that Akaya's bithday was a few days ago, so I'm kind of late. But I've always thought about how lonely it must be without the 3****rd**** years, so I decided to put it into a fanfic.**


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